Never offer and actor free food...

Oh dear. I have a lot of catching up to do…

Well, I will try and break it up into small chunks – that way you won’t have to trawl through too much at a time. And it seems less daunting to me.

The journey into London was great fun as usual. I love seeing the scenery change, although it is now less of a change to industrial, but to residential ans the developments spring up all along the cut. At least you see that some of them are having their materials delivered by boat…

Of course, it was an early start. We had to get all the way into Kings Cross, and get set up, before the Friends of Mikron Open Brackets South Close Brackets do. At five. So we got up, a little bleary, and left at 7. If I remember. Which is difficult, given that I was half asleep. I know 7 is not really early for most people in the real world. But when you don’t finish work till 11, time takes on a different pattern. We negotiated our way out of the marina in a beautiful morning – it is great boating early – you get the place to yourself.

And the nice thing about the run into London – if you have had an early start and are a looking for a rest – is that there are no locks for miles. But I can’t really let myself do that. Firstly, I feel as if I am missing something. And I also have to keep my weather eye on what is going on in case anything untoward happens. So no sleep for me.

The only problem with this journey is Camden. I have an irrational hatred of going through it. Possibly caused by the stupid things that have happened whenever I go through the locks there, and the fact that there is always an audience to witness you messing up.

This year, we got through fine. Even catching up with the boat that had overtaken us as we went through Regents Park and slowed down to see the animals. They were in a terrible rush. Which we weren’t. But were not going fast enough that they put enough distance between us to ensure that they did anything other than set the locks for us!

Anyway, the closest we came to entertainment was being accosted by the drunks at the lockside, who were very friendly.

This is the first year that we have had a Friends gathering in the south, I think. It seems like a good idea, seeing as our audience is so widespread. It was a shame that we couldn’t organise any form of entertainment other than the regular show (not that any of our shows are regular, really), but after a days boating, and before a performance, there is little scope for fitting anything else in. It was good to see people, though, and have a chance to catch up without having to take set down at the same time! And we lived on the buffet for days afterwards…